Adobe After Effects, version 7 just came out, is an expensive but very valuable addition to your favorite modeler/renderer. It?s similar to Photoshop with respect to effects, but knowing Photoshop won?t immediately catapult you to proficiency with AE, mostly because you?re editing with the additional dimension of time. Happily, AE does most of the tedious stuff almost automatically after you learn where to locate the features.
After Effects isn?t just a special effects factory?it?s a video editor I?d compare to Avid?s pro application. Regarding editing, there?s a number of things you can do in your modeling app to make life easier. First, for compositing work, use a bright color for your scene background, a color not found in the foreground scene. Unfortunately, there is no video standard that features alpha channels (Cinema 4D has some sort of workaround, tho?), so you use the background color (called a key) to pull a matte in AE. In the frame below, I needed to put the characters in the foreground, then matte in the background footage, and then use AE to slightly blur it. Effects such as blurring are non-destructive; you still have your unblurred footage.
Actually, After Effects can rotate 2D objects in 3D space, eliminating the need to model certain things such as text altogether. There are scores of 3rd party plug-ins for AE, from creating damaged film to putting still frames on rotating cubes and cylinders.
But most importantly, After Effects adds a polished look to your rendered animation. If you?re thinking of Hollywood, your sample reel couldn?t look better after a pass through After Effects.
My Best,
Gare
After Effects isn?t just a special effects factory?it?s a video editor I?d compare to Avid?s pro application. Regarding editing, there?s a number of things you can do in your modeling app to make life easier. First, for compositing work, use a bright color for your scene background, a color not found in the foreground scene. Unfortunately, there is no video standard that features alpha channels (Cinema 4D has some sort of workaround, tho?), so you use the background color (called a key) to pull a matte in AE. In the frame below, I needed to put the characters in the foreground, then matte in the background footage, and then use AE to slightly blur it. Effects such as blurring are non-destructive; you still have your unblurred footage.
Actually, After Effects can rotate 2D objects in 3D space, eliminating the need to model certain things such as text altogether. There are scores of 3rd party plug-ins for AE, from creating damaged film to putting still frames on rotating cubes and cylinders.
But most importantly, After Effects adds a polished look to your rendered animation. If you?re thinking of Hollywood, your sample reel couldn?t look better after a pass through After Effects.
My Best,
Gare